Top ten Aussies to take on the world!

The Australian Polocrosse Squad has been announced!

The Polocrosse Association of Australia has announced the country’s ten most elite players who will make up the Australian Polocrosse Squad, all of whom will vie for one of eight spots on the Polocrosse World Cup 2019 team, the Aussieroos.

Held in Warwick QLD from 22-29 April 2019, the Polocrosse World Cup is the biggest international event on the polocrosse calendar and will attract 60,000 people to rural Queensland - the biggest international sporting event ever held in rural Australia.

The Australian Polocrosse Squad will represent Australia over the next 6-8 months, with their sights set on selection for the World Cup team.

Making up the squad are:

Lauren Sillitoe (Tansey Polocrosse Club) – originally hailing from WA, Lauren was a member of the 2015 World Cup team and has been a representative player of many years.

Beth Hafey (Tansey Polocrosse Club) – this will be Beth’s first chance at Open representative polocrosse.

Ryle Waugh (Cunningham Polocrosse Club) – an outstanding junior and U21 player, this is the first time Ryle has broken into the World Cup ranks.

From NSW:

Lucy Grills (Albury/Holbrook Polocrosse Club) – has represented Australia in Junior, U21 and Open Australian sides over many years. Lucy was also a member of the 2015 World Cup team.

Jim Grills (Albury/Holbrook Polocrosse Club) – has been an Australian representative since the Junior ranks and is the brother of Lucy Grills.

Abbott Grills (Albury/Holbrook Polocrosse Club) – the cousin of Lucy and Jim, Abbott represented Australia at the 2015 World Cup.

Lance Anderson (Cassilis Polocrosse Club) – represented Australia at the 2011 World Cup and has been an Open representative player for many years.

Will Weston (Jugiong Polocrosse Club) – was a member of the 2011 and 2015 World Cup team and has been an Open representative player for many years.

From WA:

Suzette Thomas (South Midlands Polocrosse Club) – was a member of Australia’s last World Cup winning team in 2007 and is a mainstay of Australian teams.

Billy Joe (BJ) Thomas (South Midlands Polocrosse Club) – represented Australia at the 2017 South Africa test. This will be his first exposure to World Cup ranks. Keeping it in the family, BJ is Suzette's brother-in-law (Suzette is married to BJ's brother).

President of the Polocrosse Association of Australian, Michael Rynne, said that polocrosse is an action-packed, tough sport, often referred to as ‘rugby on horseback’, and the ten-person squad represents some of the most skillful, physically fit and coordinated athletes in the country.

“Polocrosse requires the toughness of rugby, the strategy of netball and the ball skills of lacrosse, all while riding and manouvering a 550kg powerful horse, which is an athlete unto itself!” Michael said.

“These ten people have been selected from a pool of over 100 players from all over Australia. They are at the height of their game. The Australian selectors have been monitoring player performance for around a year in order to select the most elite to represent the country on an international level.”

“From these ten players, eight will be selected to play in Zambia, Africa in July and the final World Cup team selection will take place after the national polocrosse championships in Perth in October.”

“We are all very excited to see what these players can do and how they will perform on the national and international stage over the coming months,” he said.

Polocrosse is one of only three home-grown Australian sports, along with Aussie Rules football and Campdraft. Polocrosse World Cup 2019 will attract 300 competitors from around the world, 2,000 international guests and 60,000 spectators, making it the largest international sporting event ever held in rural Australian.